For Cowboy Lopez, the difference between an ordinary workday and a fight for survival came down to a matter of seconds.

In February 2025, the 29-year-old Army veteran was working on a skid steer loader at the auto repair shop he owned in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The machine had stopped running, and Lopez was trying to get it working again when it unexpectedly restarted.

He was underneath it when the hydraulic system failed.

The heavy equipment came down on him, leaving Lopez with catastrophic injuries that would push his body to the edge of survival and begin a recovery that would continue long after he left the hospital.

A Routine Repair Turns Into an Emergency

At the time of the accident, Lopez owned an auto repair business called Cowboys. Working around vehicles and machinery was part of his professional life, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened that day.

After the skid steer suddenly came back on, the hydraulic system malfunctioned while Lopez was beneath the machine. Almost instantly, he was critically injured.

Nearby firefighters from the Colorado Springs Fire Department responded to the scene. Lopez was losing blood rapidly, and his condition was severe enough that emergency crews brought whole blood directly to him and began a transfusion before he reached the hospital.

That ability to provide blood at the scene came through a partnership between the fire department and UCHealth that had begun in 2024.

Lopez was then rushed to UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central, where doctors confronted the full extent of his injuries.

Doctors Faced an Extraordinary Trauma Case

Dr. Brian Leininger, medical director of surgical specialties at UCHealth, later described Lopez as being in shock when he arrived.

The damage extended across much of his body.

Lopez had severe internal bleeding caused by injuries to his abdomen and a crushed pelvis. Most of his ribs were broken. His lungs had partially collapsed, his oxygen levels had fallen dangerously low, and his brain was not receiving enough oxygen.

He was also in a coma.

Leininger, who had been practicing medicine for 23 years, considered the combination of Lopez’s injuries among the most serious he had treated during his career.

Survival itself was far from certain.

According to the doctor, people suffering injuries as extensive as Lopez’s often do not survive. Even among those who do, serious brain damage would normally be a major concern after the brain has been deprived of sufficient oxygen.

Yet Lopez survived — and what followed surprised even the medical professionals caring for him.

Four Months of Recovery

Surviving the initial trauma was only the beginning.

Lopez remained in the hospital for four months as he underwent recovery and rehabilitation. His body had endured enormous damage, and progress required far more than simply waiting for broken bones and internal injuries to heal.

For Lopez, rehabilitation became a struggle on several levels.

He later explained that the experience challenged him physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Some days felt nearly impossible, but his faith became an important source of strength as he tried to understand why he had survived something so devastating.

Rather than viewing recovery as one dramatic breakthrough, Lopez faced it one day at a time.

Every small step represented movement away from the moment when the skid steer came down and toward a life he once had no guarantee of seeing again.

Doctors eventually described his recovery as extraordinary given the severity of the original injuries.

His Daughter Became a Powerful Reason to Keep Going

Eighteen months after the accident, Lopez’s life still carries the consequences of what happened.

But there is one part of that life he thinks about differently now: time with his daughter.

Lopez’s daughter, Idalia, is 2 years old.

After coming so close to death, ordinary moments of fatherhood no longer feel ordinary to him. Birthdays, laughter and bedtime stories now represent experiences he came frighteningly close to never having.

Being Idalia’s father, Lopez has said, is one of the greatest blessings in his life.

She has also become part of the meaning he gives to his survival. His daughter does not simply motivate him to continue working through the challenges created by his injuries. For Lopez, she is a daily reminder of what he nearly lost — and of what he was given the chance to keep experiencing.

Survival Did Not Mean Returning to His Old Life

Lopez has made remarkable progress, but his recovery does not mean the accident disappeared from his life.

The former U.S. Army serviceman, who is now the founder of TrueFix Auto, continues to live with permanent injuries and manage long-term effects from the trauma.

His condition is far better than many initially expected, but each day still brings physical challenges.

That reality has changed the way Lopez thinks about being alive.

Before the accident, a normal day could easily pass without much thought. After surviving an event that doctors believed many patients would not have lived through, simply having another day carries a different weight.

The accident also changed the question Lopez asks himself about what happened.

Instead of remaining focused on why such a devastating event happened to him, he began thinking about what he could do with the life he still had.

It is a shift that reflects the larger journey of his recovery.

The skid steer accident took only seconds to transform Lopez’s body and future. The recovery that followed has taken months of medical treatment, rehabilitation, faith and determination — and it is still continuing.

He cannot erase the permanent injuries or return to the moment before the machine failed.

But 18 months after coming frighteningly close to losing everything, Lopez is still here: building a new chapter of his career, adapting to the lasting effects of his injuries and watching his young daughter grow.

For a father who once faced uncertain odds of surviving at all, those everyday moments have become some of the most meaningful signs of how far he has come.

SOURCE : https://people.com/colorado-springs-dad-survives-near-death-freak-accident-at-auto-repair-shop-exclusive-12036818